ONE
"LET’S TRY THIS again, shall we?" Officer Nichols's smile was strained and tight, any patience she'd had was long since gone. "What were you doing in an abandoned warehouse at two in the morning?"
Under the table my leg bounced up and down, the only sign of my nerves.
"What does anybody do in a warehouse at that time of the morning?" I quipped, unable to stop myself.
What could I say? Anxiety and fear made me a tad snarky.
Getting picked up by a cop while in the middle of a job was a new low for me. I could only hope no one had seen. Otherwise this whole experience was going to play havoc on my already shaky reputation.
What kind of vampire got caught by humans? A ridiculous one, that was for sure.
Officer Nichol's glare was heated, fueled by the frustration of the past few hours. "You help me, and I'll help you."
From hard ass to friend in less than a minute. It had to be a new record.
"I'm not sure what help you're thinking I can give. I already explained my reason for being there."
Many times, in fact.
Officer Nichols consulted her notes. "Right—you threw your phone over the fence and went to retrieve it."
I shrugged. "That about sums it up."
Officer Nichols sat back in her chair, irritation settling on her face. "Would you care to explain why you threw it in the first place?"
I folded my hands in front of me, one thumb brushing against the smooth metal of the handcuffs I wore. Truthfully, they weren't much of a deterrent. Even with my baby vampire strength, I could snap them and be out of here in seconds.
Of course, that would out me as something supernatural. My world didn't have a lot of rules, but it did have one. Don't expose the human world to the spooks.
Which led to the real crux of the situation. Soon, that fiery nemesis of all vampires would rise, and I'd lapse into a sleep so deep it would appear to be a coma.
Officer Nichols would have a hard time explaining why her interrogation subject keeled over. No doubt there'd be tests, the results of which I couldn't afford getting out.
I grimaced internally. I was going to have to make the call.
There would be endless lectures and many "I told you so's" and "what were you thinking's". If I could avoid it, I would, but talking my way out of the situation had yet to work in my favor.
"I got some bad news," I lied.
Nichols folded her arms over her chest. "You think this is a game?"
I shrugged. Not really, but what she was asking for—the truth—I couldn't give.
No normal human would believe the reason I was in that warehouse was to steal back a bracelet for a pair of harpies. Or that the bracelet's presence in that warehouse was grounds for a war between two supernatural species—the harpies and the kobolds. Nor would they believe the fallout of such a war would impact human lives—possibly even result in human deaths.
Yeah, Officer Nichols wasn't equipped to handle that kind of truth bomb. The monsters I saw on a nightly basis would turn her hair white—if they didn't rip out her throat and use her as a food source first.
Best for everybody if I continued to play dumb. By now, lying was practically second nature.
"About that phone call," I started.
She slammed her hand on the table, the sudden burst of sound loud and unexpected in the small room. A normal person would have jumped. Old Aileen would have startled.
Current Aileen, lifted her eyebrow as if to ask if that was supposed to scare her.
Disappointment moved through Nichols's expression, only to be quickly covered. "You were caught trespassing. There are consequences."
I rolled my eyes. It was a misdemeanor at most. Little more than a slap on the wrist.
I was more worried about news of this little escapade getting back to the master of the city. Now that would have serious consequences.
I could call someone else. Caroline, maybe. I discarded that option as soon as it occurred to me. Caroline might be my best friend, but she was also a werewolf.
If her alpha found out I was dragging her into another one of my dramas, he'd probably try to skin me. That or use me as two-legged bait during his next full moon hunt.
My family was also out. Things had been rocky since the showdown outside my niece's hospital room. I didn't want our first contact to be me asking to be bailed out of jail. It was better to let things lie for a while.
No, there was really only one person I could call. Someone who came with a whole bunch of strings attached—Liam. Vampire. Enforcer. Possible boyfriend.
The groan I made this time was heartfelt.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
Why hadn't I taken the time to learn how to compel people?
This time my polite smile was more of a grimace. "I'd really like my phone call, now."
Nichols's look of disgust and resignation deepened. She had no choice but to give me my phone call, and we both knew it.
Shaking her head, she stood, tossing her pen on the table. "Fine, you can have your phone call."
As if to punctuate her mood, the lights flickered on and off before going dark.
Nichols looked up with a distracted frown. "Power must be out. Don't move. I'll see what's going on."
Like I could go anywhere in these cuffs. Well, I could, but that might be hard to explain. Normal humans couldn't snap chains like they were twigs.
Nichols opened the door, light from the offices outside spilling into the room. Against the wall, a shadow swelled into existence, massive with wings that brushed the ceiling.
"What the hell?" Nichols reached for the light switch, flicking it on and off several times as a strangled sound came from me. A frustrated growl left her. "Someone must have blown a fuse."
Nichols stepped outside, the door starting to close behind her.
"Wait! Don't—" The door finished slamming shut. "Leave me alone in here."
It wasn't that I thought Nichols could protect me from the shadow. I was pretty sure she couldn't. Most humans when up against spooks were woefully defenseless, but her presence might have deterred whatever was hiding in the shadows from attacking.
Spooks tended to avoid fighting each other when normals were around.
My gaze searched the darkness, settling on a piece that was blacker than the rest. "Nice, shadow creature. Let's not attack or do anything stupid."
While I talked, I moved my wrists, pulling at the cuffs and hearing the metal protest as they flexed and bent.
The shadow shifted, wings opening. Suddenly, it was a few feet closer than before, though I could swear it hadn't taken a single step.
I yanked harder at the cuffs. The humans would just have to come up with some wild explanation for why they were broken. I'd lived through one too many assassination attempts to let myself sit here and hope for the best.
The shadow extended one arm, its inky blackness coming closer and closer.
I made a small sound. This was not how I wanted to die.
The door to the interrogation room opened, the bright light from outside spilling into the dark room and dispelling the shadow creature as if it had never been.
I looked from where it had stood to Officer Nichols's pissed off expression, feeling something like relief. I didn't know what the shadow creature had wanted, but I was betting it wasn't good. Call me paranoid, but I'd survived one too many people trying to kill me to dismiss its presence here as anything but suspicious.